Café du Monde

Café du Monde in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana, is an open-air café at the upper end of the French Market (800 Decatur Street). It opened in 1862 as a coffee stand and is considered the oldest coffeehouse in the city. The menu is simple: beignets, square doughnuts under a thick layer of powdered sugar, served with dark-roast coffee with chicory, black or au lait, meaning half and half with hot milk. You can also get milk, hot chocolate and fresh-squeezed orange juice.

The café stands on the site of the Butcher's Hall, which the Spanish built in 1791. According to Wikipedia and frenchquarter.com it is open around the clock and closes only on Christmas Day or when a hurricane passes too close to New Orleans (as of October 2026); after Hurricane Katrina it stayed closed from August 27 to October 19, 2005.

If you travel by RV, that means you can also plan your visit for late evening or early morning. You can sit at a table or order at the takeaway window, and through a window on the side of the building you can watch the beignets being made. Expect powdered sugar on your clothes.